F1's Best Ever: Schumacher, Probably, Or Maybe Senna, Or Clark Or......

Formula One. The very name conjures up images of speed, danger, money, jet setting lifestyle and playboy drivers. It is the very pinnacle of motorsport and every schoolboy’s fantasy (the one not involving girls, that is) is to be a Formula 1 driver.

With a fortnight until the start of the 2009 season, we have a bit of time to take a break for the speculation and testing analysis to indulge in a bit of good old-fashioned, but absolutely futile,  "discussion" about who's the best of all time.

Opinions vary as to who the real stars of F1 are. Is it the multi-million dollar cars, or the modern day chariot racers who pilot them around the track. The truth is, that no matter how good a car you build, without that special talent behind the wheel, they will go nowhere. If proof is needed, enter Ferrari before Michael Schumacher as Exhibit A.

A good driver does more than just sit behind the wheel, they will be an integral part in the development and tuning of the car. All of the telemetry in the world cannot tell the engineers what it ‘feels’ like to drive the car.

So, who was the best? Ask a dozen different F1 fans and you’ll probably get as many different answers, but there are a handful who will appear in most people’s top five drivers of all time. For me, the list is – in no particular order – Michael Schumacher, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clark, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.

Also in the top five would be Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart, Gilles Villeneuve, Niki Lauda, Nigel Mansell, Jack Brabham and Nelson Piquet. That’s the problem. Unless you could line up all of the blokes in identical cars at the peak of their career, it’s impossible to judge them fairly. That would be one hell of a race though.

Sticking with the original top five, any one of them could build a compelling argument for being the best ever. Fangio is synonymous with Formula One; he is the gold standard against all others are measured, but few of us ever saw him race. His record is unsurpassed, winning nearly every second race in which he started—a record that has never been matched.

Jim Clark earned his place amongst the top five. His conversion rate of better than one win for every three starts is bettered only by Schumacher and Fangio. He is also responsible for one of the most spectacular comebacks in F1 history.

After getting a puncture at Monza in 1967 and ending up dead last and one lap down, Clark unlapped himself and recovered the lead before running out of fuel and finishing third. Fangio also said that he thought Clark may have been best.

Of the modern three, Prost was the consummate driver, technically perfect, consistent and without the histrionics and excesses of some of his contemporaries. He earned the nickname of “The Professor” because of the way he meticulously set up his car and prepared for races.

Senna, however, was the consummate racer. He drove with passion and skill and pushed the ragged edge of control—ultimately paying the highest price for that desire to test the boundaries. He was breathtaking to watch and epitomised the romanticised image that we have of F1 racing drivers.

Brilliant though Prost and Senna were in their own way, neither would have outshone Michael Schumacher. Often criticised for dominating an era of mediocrity, Schumacher not only knew how to win races, but he also knew how to rebuild teams.

Benetton rose to prominence with Schumacher as their number one driver and drifted into obscurity when he left. At Ferrari, he led them from the Wilderness to five consecutive World Championships.

Schumacher was a tough and uncompromising racer. He did whatever it took to win races. Heaven help he who tried to overtake Schumy when the championship race was tight. He developed a reputation as bully who run others off the road to win as he did with Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve in both cases in the final race of the season when he was leading by only a few points.

To this day, he is the only driver to have been excluded from a season for deliberately hitting a competitor's car (not the official explanation). Few drivers, if any, would divide opinion as strongly as Schumacher—you either love him or hate him—but if you had to choose someone to drive to save your life, it would be Schumy every time.